It Doesn't Hurt to Ask

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Tuesday, May 06, 2014

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
- James 1:5

One of the first things that we ask when the bottom drops out, when trials come our way (and there can be so many ways they manifest themselves) is, "Why, Lord? Why are You allowing this to happen? What have I done to deserve such a fate?"

Maybe you have lost your job. Maybe you have suddenly become ill. Maybe you have lost a loved one. It has brought great anguish to you. It just goes on and on, and you wonder why. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." Or, as another translation puts it, "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking" (NLT).

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When you are going through these times of hardship, there is nothing wrong with saying, "Lord, what are You trying to teach me? Is there a lesson to be learned here? Because if there is, then I want to learn it. I want to get through this as quickly as possible. If this is going to go on for a while and there is nothing I can do to change that, fine. But if there is something I need to learn that will cause this to come to an end, then tell me now, Lord."

It's important for us to know that God does have lessons He wants us to learn in times of trial. And many times, it is simply to see whether we have learned the material.